This recipe calls for a drop of castor oil. Yes, you heard it right. My friend suggested adding a drop of edible castor oil while cooking the black-eyed peas. I was surprised, but its natural laxative nature helps with digestion as well as other gastrointestinal problems. I strongly believe in “Food as Medicine” (Unave Marundu), and these small inclusions prove that again and again. The sad truth is I couldn’t find edible castor oil, so went with gingelly oil instead. I need to buy this oil very soon. As the name suggests, black-eyed peas play a major role here. You can even skip the brinjals for this recipe. (I didn’t skip. I love both black-eyed peas and brinjal.) When my friend was giving me the recipe options, no wonder I picked this one first. This recipe doesn’t call for sambar powder, and we use red chili powder and coriander powder for spicing it up. The fresh ground coconut and fennel seeds masala balances the spiciness and adds richness and unique flavor to the recipe. I would like to thank my friend S again for sharing all these three wonderful Kongu Nadu recipes. Here are my other two recipes.
Black Eyed Peas & Brinjal Kuzhambu | Kongu Nadu Special
A Kongu Nadu special protein-rich, spicy and tangy gravy prepared with black-eyed peas and brinjals and with fresh coconut masala.
Ingredients:
Black-Eyed Peas – 1 cup Water – 2 cups + 3 cups + for soaking (Water for pressure cooking, for sambar, and for grinding and soaking) Gingelly oil or Edible Castor Oil – 2 drops Garlic cloves – 2 Chopped Onion – 1 cup Tender Brinjals – 4 Coriander Powder – 2 tbsps Red Chilly Powder – 1 tbsp (heaped) Tamarind – small lemon size or 1.5 tbsps of tamarind paste Salt – 2.5 tsps Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp Curry leaves – 1 strand For Tempering: Oil – 2 to 3 tbsps Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp Cinnamon – 1-inch piece Fenugreek Seeds – 1 tsp Hing – ¼ tsp Red Chillies – 2 For Grinding: Grated Coconut – ½ cup Fennel Seeds – 1 tbsp
Soaking and cooking the black-eyed peas
Soak the black-eyed peas for at least 5 hours and pressure cook the black-eyed peas with two garlic cloves and 2 drops of gingelly oil or castor oil for 3 whistles by adding 2 cups of water.
Once it’s cooled down, reserve one-half of the cooked black-eyed peas and do not discard the water. Pulse the remaining half coarsely and set aside.
Other prep-work
Chop the onions, brinjals. Grind the coconut and fennel seeds by adding about ¼ cup of water.
If using tamarind, soak it in water and squeeze about 1 cup of tamarind juice. If using a paste, mix the paste in 1 cup of water and set aside.
Preparing the kuzhambu
Heat the pan/kadai/vaanali and add oil. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, hing, and cinnamon. As they start to splutter, add the broken red chilly pieces and curry leaves. Fry them for a minute and add chopped onions. Cook until the onions turn translucent. Now add the chopped brinjals and let it cook for about 4 to 5 minutes until it is semi-soft.
Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chilly powder, and salt. Mix well. Now add the tamarind water and let it simmer for about 3 to 4 minutes.
As it starts to boil, add the cooked black-eyed peas and the ground peas. Mix them well. Add water according to your consistency preference. Check for salt and spice at this stage and bring this to a boil. Once it starts to boil, add the ground coconut mixture and bring it to one boil again and turn off the heat.
That’s it. Yummy brinjal black-eyed peas kuzhambu is ready.
Recipe Notes:
Adjust the salt and spices according to your preference. Instead of chopping the brinjals into pieces, you can slit them as we do for ennai katharikai. Coriander powder and red chilly powder can be substituted with 2.5 to 3 tbsps of sambar powder. I love black-eyed peas, so I went with 1 full cup. You can reduce the black-eyed peas to ½ cup also. A drop of castor oil is used while cooking the black-eyed peas. But I went with gingelly oil. If you can find edible castor oil, you can opt for that.
More Black-Eyed Peas Recipes
Olan Gujarati lobia curry Instant Pot black-eyed peas curry Black-eyed peas sundal
PS – If you try this thattapayaru katharikai kuzhambu / black-eyed peas kuzhambu, please don’t forget to comment and rate this recipe. If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and I will get to it ASAP. Make sure to follow me on my Pinterest for more healthy and delicious ideas! Follow me on Instagram or join my Facebook Group for more gardening and recipe updates.
📖 Recipe
